Book Review - Far from Rome, Near to God

"Young Lady Reading" by Mary Cassatt

John 8:36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

Here is a book review my husband wrote back before we were married and which I previously published on The Home Maker's Corner.

Those of us who have lived our lives under the ideal of freedom of thought and belief, may find it hard to understand the bondage that accompanies the belief system of the Roman Catholic Church. In modern times and in some places that church has conformed herself to the environment and so some people now think that it is changed and that there is more freedom and truth there than there once was. The reason for this is that the ways of a harlot church are to conform herself to people's expectations in order to deceive people into joining her. The scripture says, speaking of a strange woman in Proverbs 5:6,  Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable, that thou canst not know them. This book shows that, though there is an outward appearance of freedom and liberty now in some ways, the bondage is still there. If some Catholics don't feel its power, or manage to escape it, it is either ignorance or because they are not fully subjected to her most dangerous doctrines.

Not long ago I talked to a lady who grew up in the Roman Catholic Church and in a community dominated by it in Massachusetts. She confirmed the power to bring people into bondage, even in the U.S. and in modern times. As a girl and young lady, she realized something was wrong and as soon as she could leave it, she did. She spoke of it as one would of a great escape. And indeed, it is.

Please don't be fooled into thinking that these things are no longer an issue or that it has changed. The fact that it appears to have changed while maintaining its power, core doctrines, and hierarchy only proves that there is great deception there. I really recommend this book for anyone who is in doubt of that.

Far From Rome, Near to God

Testimonies of Fifty Converted Roman Catholic Priests
Edited by Richard Bennette and Martin Buckingham

Rated: Useful - for distribution to people in Catholicism or ignorant of the bondage and futility of the Roman church. Encouraging for believers.

Guest post by Peter Stephens

...I have read part way through it, reading a little every night. It is encouraging to read the testimonies of salvation and it is interesting to meditate on the common threads of them. The men who were saved consistently started their pilgrimage by fearing God (or at least hell and purgatory) and doing the best they could to earn their salvation. Because of their R[oman] C[atholic] background they each decided that the “priest” was the ultimate example of holiness and good works (or at least their parents thought so). They each became trapped in the bondage of the RC system for many years but were never satisfied for they saw the hypocrisy of Catholicism. They all knew that their good works were not enough to save them from their sins. But by the grace of God they learned the fallacies of their ways. I am reminded of Matthew 7:7-8: “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: 8 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.” And every one of the priests left the “church” of Rome.

Nobody is tricked into salvation. Nobody is surprised into being saved. Nobody has earned their salvation. Those who have been born again have sought the Lord and believed his Word and the finished and perfect sacrifice of our Jesus on the cross of Calvary. What a precious gift our Lord has given us!

This book may be purchased at Amazon. Or at this Christian book seller's page.
[These are not affiliate links.]